Colleges and Observatories

[Slaists]

I'm not sure if it is global or not, but the observatory bonus was reduced to 2% in patch 1.2.

I'll check later: will destroy 10 observatories (20% boost in case the effect is global and stacks) and see if that affects my research rate for a 20 turn tech.

[Fisherking]

Usually I try to have five schools and as many observatories as I can build, but eight school is the optimal number. If you specialize it gives you three for military, three for industrial, and two for philosophy. More than this and you will have schools doing nothing. Also I try to put at least one 4 star researcher per school and if available another gentleman in each. As I run out of techs I close schools and move the gentlemen to the others.

If you have priority research in one field the 4 stars work best and if the schools are close you can shift them for a time.

The best regions for this are the Netherlands, Rhineland, Wurttemberg, and Bavaria. They are all close and have schools at start. Also Saxony and Brandenburg are near by if you like to shift them. You might call this the core area for research and all but two have the slot for observatories.

[Flavius Gonzo]

Great info on this thread.

I have another question, for those of you who have finished a GC:

Do you destroy all your schools/universities once you've finished the tech tree? Other than producing research and clamor for reform, none of the educational buildings provide any benefit right?

Or does anything spiffy happen at the top of the tech tree (ala Civ IV, where you'd just continually research "Future Techs" which actually could be beneficial.)

Same question with gentlemen, where should they go once the tech tree is finished? I guess, just send them out to enemy schools to destroy other gentlemen, or is there another use for them?

[Servius]

I usually have 2 in the nation's capital region plus 1 in a sub-capital. For example, as GB, there would be 2 in England and 1 in Scotland.

Since I have 3, I have one focus on each of the 3 research trees. I choose which Gentleman to put in which school based on what traits the Gentleman has.

I build Observatories in every city.

[FactionHeir]

Great info on this thread.
Do you destroy all your schools/universities once you've finished the tech tree? Other than producing research and clamor for reform, none of the educational buildings provide any benefit right?

Well they do give prestige points for being there, but you usually are way out of the AI's league in terms of prestige by turn 20 the latest, so yes, by all means, destroy them

[rossahh]

I don't think the observatory effect is global

From my own experiences, I think it is. I built observatories in all of my provinces and I had four universities in my capital region (England). Once I got to the final four techs I demolished all of my observatories except the one in London, intending to build grand opera houses for a slightly higher public order bonus. However, once all of observatories were demolished, the tech times ballooned from 8-10 turns to 30-40. There was no other reason for the sudden change other than me demolishing my observatories around the world.

[antisocialmunky]

:-\ School based prestige should compound and grow over time so they help win the prestige race... or something so that they don't end up useless.

[PraetorFigus]

:-\ School based prestige should compound and grow over time so they help win the prestige race... or something so that they don't end up useless.

Prestige might only be influenced by the completed techs and army/navy numbers, but I'm not clear on how schools could improve prestige or if there are other factors that also increase prestige, like a % modifier as a possible example.

Some buildings have a line that says improves "national prestige" or something like that. But I don't understand how that is reflected in the Prestige tab.

[Fisherking]

Great info on this thread.

I have another question, for those of you who have finished a GC:

Do you destroy all your schools/universities once you've finished the tech tree? Other than producing research and clamor for reform, none of the educational buildings provide any benefit right?

Or does anything spiffy happen at the top of the tech tree (ala Civ IV, where you'd just continually research "Future Techs" which actually could be beneficial.)

Same question with gentlemen, where should they go once the tech tree is finished? I guess, just send them out to enemy schools to destroy other gentlemen, or is there another use for them?

I have to do some checking but there may be a benefit to keeping schools.

Check your regions' cards and see what income is due to enlightenment.

That said, in the past I have usually removed all my schools except the one in the capital region.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

I remove all schools once I have finished researching the tech tree, because they give clamor for reform and no income.